Saul Kripke

Saul Kripke is an American philosopher. Known for his influential contributions to logic, he has also been fruitful in such fields as philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and set theory.

Born into an observant Jewish family, Kripke was recognised as a prodigy, having taught himself Hebrew by six, read all of Shakespeare by nine, and begun to explore high-level mathematical problems by the end of elementary school. He attended Harvard, finding it uneventful, and taught there briefly before taking on professorships at a number of other institutions; he is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York.

Kripke is perhaps best known for Naming and Necessity, which, among other issues, examined how names refer to things in the world. He is also recognised for his novel intepretation of Wittgenstein's writings on private language.

"In many circles, Mr Kripke .... is thought to be the world's greatest living philosopher". ~ New York Times